[Jaysh]

Question: I am a taxicab driver who owns my own cab. According to the law in the city where I work, I cannot discriminate between passengers and cannot refuse to take them places. Also, I used to work in another city where there were no such laws on the books. However, I worked for a taxicab company that prohibited drivers from refusing customers. Is my profession lawful? Am I allowed to take passengers to nightclubs and bars?

Answered by Sheikh Muhammad Muhammad Sâlim `Abd al-Wadûd

Taking people to places where lawful and unlawful activities are both possible – like a restaurant, a hotel, or the general marketplace – is perfectly lawful. You are not obliged to ask them what they are going to eat and drink at the restaurant.

This is a matter about which there is general agreement.

Scholars differ regarding taxicab drivers taking passengers to places where they will certainly be carrying out predominantly unlawful activities. Such places include bars, nightclubs, and known brothels. Many scholars deem this prohibited, since it is helping people in sin and iniquity.

Allah says: “Help ye one another in righteousness and piety but do not help one another in sin and rancor. Fear Allah: for Allah is strict in punishment.” [Sûrah al-Mâ’idah: 2]

However, even in these cases, if taxicab drivers are prohibited from refusing passengers by law or by company regulations, or due to the negative feelings against Muslims that refusing passengers might engender in society, then it will be permissible to take all passengers wherever they want to go.

This is because a taxicab driver’s work is basically lawful in and of itself. Indeed, the driver is providing people with an essential service. If either the law or circumstances prohibit drivers from discriminating against passengers, this does not mean that Muslims should be barred from an essentially lawful and useful profession.

And Allah knows best.

Islamtoday.Com - Taxicab drivers taking customers anywhere

[MossadConspiracy]

that cabbie must be from a slow town

[AmroodWaala]

[jinnzaman]

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani essentially gave the same fatwa.

[Timbit]

SubhanAllah. The deen's not difficult.

[zeyneddine]

Originally Posted by Jaysh

Question: I am a taxicab driver who owns my own cab. According to the law in the city where I work, I cannot discriminate between passengers and cannot refuse to take them places. Also, I used to work in another city where there were no such laws on the books. However, I worked for a taxicab company that prohibited drivers from refusing customers. Is my profession lawful? Am I allowed to take passengers to nightclubs and bars?

Answered by Sheikh Muhammad Muhammad Sâlim `Abd al-Wadûd

Taking people to places where lawful and unlawful activities are both possible – like a restaurant, a hotel, or the general marketplace – is perfectly lawful. You are not obliged to ask them what they are going to eat and drink at the restaurant.

This is a matter about which there is general agreement.

Scholars differ regarding taxicab drivers taking passengers to places where they will certainly be carrying out predominantly unlawful activities. Such places include bars, nightclubs, and known brothels. Many scholars deem this prohibited, since it is helping people in sin and iniquity.

Allah says: “Help ye one another in righteousness and piety but do not help one another in sin and rancor. Fear Allah: for Allah is strict in punishment.” [Sûrah al-Mâ’idah: 2]

However, even in these cases, if taxicab drivers are prohibited from refusing passengers by law or by company regulations, or due to the negative feelings against Muslims that refusing passengers might engender in society, then it will be permissible to take all passengers wherever they want to go.

This is because a taxicab driver’s work is basically lawful in and of itself. Indeed, the driver is providing people with an essential service. If either the law or circumstances prohibit drivers from discriminating against passengers, this does not mean that Muslims should be barred from an essentially lawful and useful profession.

And Allah knows best.

Islamtoday.Com - Taxicab drivers taking customers anywhere

This is an interesting issue. Can the same be said of the Curry and Beer shops in the UK? How about BYOB Curry shops? The former I would say def. no, but latter would seem okay based on the above fatwa. Am I incorrect?

[Jamroll]

Originally Posted by zeyneddine

This is an interesting issue. Can the same be said of the Curry and Beer shops in the UK? How about BYOB Curry shops? The former I would say def. no, but latter would seem okay based on the above fatwa. Am I incorrect?

Good point. Almost all Indian restaurants (which despite the name are run by Bangladeshi Muslims) serve alcohol. Not to mention many Pakistanis own off-licences (what we Brits call the liquor store).

[imaan786]

and muslims work at the checkout in stores where they stock haraam items on the shelves and sell them at the tills, even handle them at bakery/butchers (though they have plastic gloves)...I have read of some incidences where muslimshave refused to touch haraam items when they are doing that beep beep thing at the tilland they call a non-muslim colleague to do it

[ShahRukh]

The part that says taking customers to sinful places doesn't differentiate between muslim and non-muslim customers.

Since shariah rulings dont apply to non-muslims, how would it be inappropriate or sinful for a cabbie to drop off non-muslims to sinful places?